The invention refers to a method and a device for controlling and detecting the occurence of perforations in protective means, especially the surgical gloves of the operation staff.
In recent years a highly developed surgical operating technique has been developed. An increasing number of categories of patients are considered for surgical operations as e.g. transplants, heart operations, insertion of hip-, joint-, and knee prostheses. It has however been found that infections in the incisions often jeopardize the surgical results and the health of the patient. A strict aseptic technique is therefore of utmost importance.
Microorganisms and bacteria in the incision are the primary cause of the infections. These bacteria or microorganisms can come from the patient himself or from the closest surroundings as from the medical staff, the air or the medical requisites.
It is a well known fact that the medical staff are spreaders and transporters of infectious matters. In order to reduce the risk of infection the staff is for this reason dressed in tight working clothes. Operation clothes can today e.g. comprise a cap, mask, sterile operation coat and sterile surgical gloves. There have also been stipulated strict rules for the change of working-clothes under the sterile operation coat. There are also rules for how the washing of hands shall be accomplished in order to reduce as far as possible the number of microorganisms on and in the skin of the surgeon's hands. Despite this, and owing to the wearing of rubber gloves, there is a continuous transport of microorganisms together with sweat and tallow, from the pores up to the outer layers of the skin of the hand. On the inside of the operation gloves, a liquid which is very rich in bacteria and microorganisms is therefore accumulated in a relatively short time.
The surgical gloves are made as thin as possible so that the surgeon will have a good sensitivity but at the same time they have to be thick enough to last with the handling of sharp operating instruments and the like.
Tests have shown that in operations in soft tissues perforations, i.e. large or small holes, occur in about 40-50% of all operations. In orthopaedic surgery, where operations are made in bone tissues, perforations occur to an even greater extent, up to 95% of all operations. If a surgical glove is perforated during an operation there is a great risk that the bacteria-rich liquid accumulated in the operation glove will leak out through the perforation and into the incision. This often leads to undesired infections.
Devices for controlling surgical gloves are previously known in some cases. For example, in French patent specification No. 2.208.300 a device is described, with which perforations in surgical gloves can be detected. The device substantially comprises an electronic unit to which is connected a metal basin with an electrolyte and a junction arranged between the electronic unit and the surgeon. The idea is that the surgeon at certain intervals shall dip his hands into the metal basin, at which possible perforations are detected by the electric connection which occurs through these perforations.
This previously known device has a plurality of drawbacks of which only a number will be mentioned. Firstly the surgeon has to be connected to the electronic unit through a conductor, which of course restricts the freedom of movement for the surgeon and which of course forms an obstacle to the assisting operation staff. Besides that the surgeon must remember at short and regularly recurrent intervals to interrupt the operation in order to dip his or her hands into the metal basin to detect possible perforations. At extensive and complicated operations this means of course a considerable drawback for the operation staff. It is further obvious that perforations can occur between the detection intervals, permitting bacteria to contiminate the incision.
Devices for discharging static electricity from surgeons, nurses etc. are also previously known. Such a device is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,841 and comprises a metal element connecting the inside of a footwear, e.g. a shoe, with the underside thereof, the sole. Owing to its design under certain unfortunate conditions, this device can instead of preventing cause spark formation in the operating room and, e.g., ignite anesthetic gases. This can, e.g., be the case when the surgeon does not stand in such a way that the sole and the device are not in contact with the floor. Static electricity will then accumulate in the body of the surgeon and this static electricity will be discharged causing spark formation when the surgeon changes position and the sole makes contact with the floor.